Mombasa Marine Park Snorkeling Cost & More

Mombasa Marine Park Snorkeling Cost

There are no specific fees to pay to snorkel in Mombasa Marine Park, though you will have to pay for general park fees and boat fees, if you do not have a boat to take you there.

If you do not have your own snorkeling equipment, you will also have to rent those from KWS or from other agents at the beach at an agreed upon price.

READ ALSO: Mombasa Marine Park Guide & Malindi

READ ALSO: Malindi Snorkeling & More

Kenya Park Fees 2024 (Including Mombasa Marine Park Entrance Fee, Malindi Marine Park Fees & Kisite Mpunguti Entry Fee)

Madjaas Park Entrance Fee

The entrance fee for Madja-as Park in Culasi, Antique is P350 for adults and P200 for kids 10 years old and below.

Marine Park Malindi (With Malindi Marine National Park Photos)

I woke up in Malindi, after a few short hours of sleep. I was eager to see what goodies Malindi Marine National Park held in store for me.

As I wrote in my previous post, Malindi is my favorite town on the Kenyan coast, so I was eager not only to spend time at the beach but also to explore Malindi under water.

Along with the rest of the group, I woke up, made and ate breakfast, did some clearing up—we were staying in KWS self-catering accommodation—and got into my swimwear, ready to enjoy the day.

We had decided to extend our trip by one more day so that we could fully enjoy Malindi.

Our new leisurely pace, with nowhere to rush to, was refreshing to say the least.

Briefing at the Warden’s Office: Malindi Marine Park Guide

The first item on our agenda was a briefing from the marine park’s warden. In it, he gave us a quick guide to Malindi Marine National Park.

In the warden’s office, we got a sneak peek at what we might see in the marine park, later in the day, from the pictures plastered on his wall—pictures of coral, starfish, zebrafish, and other marine creatures.

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During the warden’s briefing, we learned some basic information about Malindi Marine National Park.

Malindi Marine Park, gazetted in 1968, is Africa’s oldest marine park.

We learned too that it had recently undergone a branding process and was famed not only for being Africa’s oldest marine park but also for its magical islands and zebrafish.

Magical islands, you ask? Yes, these are simply sandbanks that appear out of the ocean during low tide. The rest of the time the sandbanks are under water.

He told us too about new accommodation that KWS had built that we, the female bloggers, would get to experience later that night.

Setting off to Explore Malindi National Park

Done with our briefing, it was time to experience Malindi Marine Park for ourselves.

We headed off to the beach, which was surprisingly busy for a random Friday in November.

Still, unlike the beaches of Mombasa, which have lots of hawkers and commercial activity going on, the beach in Malindi seemed like it was being used only for recreational purposes and was therefore a lot more serene.

The sand was white, the water and sky were deep blue—altogether very, very pretty.

Our guides wanted to make sure that we had correct snorkeling gear before we got into the boat. We took a moment to take care of that.

At Malindi Marine Park, they were pulling out all the stops. The snorkeling gear consisted not only of a diving mask and a snorkel, but also flippers.

Sadly, there were no flippers to fit my tiny feet so I had to forgo those. Oh, well…

Malindi Marine National Park Attractions: Visiting a Magical Island

With our snorkeling gear sorted, we got on the boat and headed off to the marine park.

The first stop we made was at a magical island.

The beauty of magical islands is not simply that they appear out of nowhere, but that the sand on them is extremely clean (as I guess it would be, given that it’s covered by water most of the time).

This very white sand surrounded by clear blue or turquoise water is what makes magical islands so dreamy.

We didn’t actually disembark and get onto the magical island; rather, we decided to go into deeper waters and snorkel.

Once our boat had moored and we were given the OK to jump in, that’s exactly what we did.

Photo Credits: Николай Максимович, GilUm; guidaviaggi.it; AfricanMecca Safaris; kws.org; The Lawford; kuoni.co.uk; Николай Максимович